Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/06/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Geoff, Nice set of photos. You got some good ones of Alastair and the models of course. ;-D Gene -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: "Geoff Hopkinson" <hoppyman@bigpond.net.au> > > > As promised the first twelve photos from Alastair and hoppy at the PMA show > are in this gallery > <http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman/k> > http://tinyurl.com/4dsfx8 > > Alastair visited Brisbane with his lovely wife, Helen. Alastair and I had a > very enjoyable afternoon and evening together in the LUG tradition. > There were beers and Leicas, cameras, sushi and even Senoritas. > We started with a leisurely lunch and, as the table became covered with M8s > and lenses, I met, I think one of the first M8s to come to Aus. > We went to the PMA photo and imaging show and had a splendid afternoon > together. > Leica was very well represented both by distributor and seller, Olympus had > a superb and well organized display with plenty of new equipment to try as > well as really knowledgeable and interested staff. Sony had a lot of > equipment and a large staff, all of whom completely ignored us as we tried > to look at their cameras. Hasselblad entertained Alastair for some time and > made me feel positively economical with Leica prices vs. Hasselblad. Nikon > and Canon were probably there, you'd have to ask someone that wanted to > look! I'm sure I saw signs to their displays ;-) Eizo and their superb > monitors had a large display and I think every single vendor seemed to use > their monitors. So popular were they that their show discounted stock of > their new 22 inch monitor sold out in two hours of the opening day, Well > before the public got access. Epson was prominent. The new 2880 looks good, > but not as good as discounted 3800s. After a long search we found a single > small floor level cabinet with a handful of Fuji film. No information nor > interest that I could see. I'm not sure why they bothered. Maybe something > to do with the fact that their superb pro slide films cost six times as > much > here as in New York, although we have near parity with our dollar. > Apart from delicious rumours and some good deals mentioned by the Leica > folks, the highlight of the show for me was an incident at the Olympus > booth. Incidentally, they were really attentive, knowledgeable and helpful > folks. I got to play with the near to release E520, which has a great Live > view function and Alastair got good info on the E3 from a senior guy. > But I digress. The funny moment for me was when three models hired to be > camera test subjects strolled down and posed smiling for all. The crowd was > riveted except for one guy I saw, and everyone happily seized the demo > cameras and blazed away with smiles all around. Then I watched their faces > as, one by one they realized that they were shooting with the supplied > cameras. Can you see their problem? However, M8 shooters are made of > smarter > material and of course I have tried to share these moments here. I just > love > the Nikon guy in these, completely happy to have obtained a brochure on the > new E520 and carefully reading the specs. > A few more pics to come from me, and no doubt, Alastair will be attempting > to embarrass me with posts of his own. > > C&C welcome, as always > > > Cheers > Geoff > http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman/e > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/gh/ > > -----Original Message----- > From: lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org > [mailto:lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of > Geoff Hopkinson > Sent: Saturday, 31 May 2008 23:58 > To: 'Leica Users Group' > Subject: [Leica] Alastair and Hoppy meet up Episode one > > WARNING WARNING even more rampant speculation. May be disquieting to R > owners. > Today Alastair and I attended the PMA photo and imaging show which is as > close as we get to a Photokina in Australia. We have a number of adventures > to relate and pictures to share very soon. More show report to follow too. > Naturally we spent time chatting with assorted Leica related > representatives > and friendly sales folks. > One of the retail folks admitted even wining and dining the R production > manager in Solms only to obtain not a single word on any future products. > His credibility we rated as likely to be very high and some attractive > deals > were mentioned on various red badged items. You have to like a man with an > MP slung over his shoulder, his personal camera, for shooting away at the > show. > We quizzed the friendly distributor guy expecting the cone of silence on > matters R related. Parts of this conversation must be repeated to the best > of our memories. > LUG guy: will the new R camera use the existing R lenses? > Leica guy: No > LUG guy: It won't be 35mm sized? > Leica guy: No the sensor will be too big > > LUG guy to LUG guy: Did he just say that?! We could have the world scoop on > this! I'm going to post this on the LUG right away and upset the R guys!! > > Thirty minutes later we check back with our Leica guy who does deflate us > somewhat by mentioning that this was entirely his guesswork. Rats! I much > preferred the story from seller number two who took the R production > manager > out for dinner and learnt nothing! > > > Cheers > Geoff > http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman/e > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/gh/ > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information